A standard installation for washing a car, by which is meant any vehicle or other large object normally cleaned in such an installation, normally has four separate stations spaced longitudinally apart on a longitudinally extending path along which the car is displaced during washing. The furthest upstream station sprays the car with soapy water and may even act on the car with brushes and the like to loosen dirt. Downstream of this station there is normally provided a prerinsing station which sprays the car with substantially clean water. Further downstream of this station there is normally provided a rinsing station which removes any remaining soap residue from the car. Finally, the furthest downstream station incorporates a dryer which may be provided with a heater for directing a blast of air at the rinsed car to dry same.
The last-mentioned drying station normally incorporates an extremely large blower, or several small blowers such as described in my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,986. In order to ensure adequate drying of the vehicle, it is normal to employ a blower or blowers having a total electricity consumption of at least 15 kilowatts. Thus the drying station not only costs a great deal due to the heavy-duty blower or blowers needed, but entails considerable operation expense due to the high power consumption. In addition the amount of noise produced at the drying station is also normally extremely high, far above OSHA standards, so that it is necessary to provide considerable soundproofing around the drying station. In fact it is know for building permits in otherwise quiet areas to be rejected for car-washing installations based mainly on this large noise factor.